To celebrate International Women’s Day, we profile one of honestbee’s female leaders, a game-changer who continually inspires us with her amazing work, all while juggling the demands of family.

Crystal & family

Crystal Gonzalez is honestbee Philippines’ queen bee. As the General Manager for the Philippines business, Crystal has been instrumental in the success of expanding and growing the honestbee business.

Tell us a little about yourself!

Hi I’m Crystal. I have three major jobs – I am a mom of two, I am a wife, and I am queen bee at honestbee Philippines. I started with honestbee a year ago, one month after giving birth, and spent almost a week at the HQ office, pumping milk most of the time while getting training and meeting everyone :p

What’s your home life like?

I spend most of my time with the things that matter most – my family. I have a three year old daughter and a one year old son. I am very proud that I breastfed both of them even though it can be a tiring process.

What is a bad day like for me? It is when we wake up with poop on the bed and on bad days – we catch our kids about to eat them too. 🙂 haha! Other than that, the rest of our days are quite a breeze.

I usually host dinners at home with the whole family twice a week and I make sure I also spend time and have date nights with my husband, my third child 🙂

But really, being a wife and a mom of two for me has been my greatest joy and source of inspiration. Life has been just plain awesome.

How do you balance your work and family life?

My life at home usually involves either coffee or wine 🙂 I start my day with coffee, and usually end it with a glass, or two! 🙂

I also keep in mind that no one ever said on their deathbed “I wish I spent more time at the office”. So essentially, I just spend my time on things that matter the most – my family.

I also work to live. I don’t live to work. This way, I am more productive. Time is a luxury especially being a mom of two and a wife. So I spend my time wisely. I cannot afford to spend 15 hours at the office, not even 12, I have kids and a husband to take care of at home and I think this fact makes me more productive. I spend my work hours on the things that matter too – Things that actually produce results.

I also believe that happy, healthy, balanced people are productive people. And I spend a lot of time imparting the same to the team so they are productive too. I keep reminding everyone to work smart, working hard is important and everyone gives their 200% but working smart is key.

Lastly, waking up everyday with a purpose, a clear one. That’s important. Knowing your purpose, priorities, goals every single day. That is how you keep balance. In my case, my family gives me purpose, they are my #1 priority, and my goal is to give them a good and happy life.

Do you have any tips for how to succeed in a male dominated industry?

I do not see male, female, I do not see gender, I do not see titles, I see people. People with shared vision, values, and common goals.

I also do not believe in the concept of success. We will always want more, that’s human nature. Wanting more, striving for more, learning, failing, growing, getting better, is what will keep us alive and going.

Success to me means nothing. What I believe and aspire for though is love, peace and happiness.

Any other wisdom to share?

Live life to the fullest. Do what you love and love what you do.

The day you wake up and not look forward to your day and your life, stop, and make a change.

Surround yourself with the right people, with the same values.

Stop wasting time on things that do not matter, and don’t sweat the small stuff. 🙂